Economics essay: short guidelines BBA 2012-2013, D. Besson
Topics: The topic of the Economics essay is to be chosen by taking in consideration your centres of interest and also your professional or next year(s) studying project. A priori, there are no restrictions in the kind of the subject. Any subject is acceptable, if not too broad (that would be impossible to treat in the limited scope of an essay) neither too specific (for the bibliographical references could be too difficult to find). Of course, it must be a topic in Economics, either micro (study of one or several firms in an industry in (set of) countries, for example) or macro (the Economic development of a market, of an industry, or an economic area). Some social phenomenons can be analyzed from an economic point of view (life styles and consumption; demography and labor market; for examples). Your subject can be linked with your dissertation topic (or, at today, the domain you consider you could cover in your dissertation), but of course it’s not an obligation. I remind you that you must submit me your topic for my agreement. Indicative length: It’s not easy to give a precise indication, as it depends of the subject. Some subjects need more long descriptions, and some other ones, more synthetic and/or more theoretical, require less length. As an indication, I can say that under 10 pages (around 3500 words) it’s impossible to make a good essay. More than 25 pages (9000 words) would certainly be too long for the quantity of work you should spend on it. But it also depends The possible annexes (special documents, like reproduction of large figures or pages of information which would be too long in the text) are not included in this length. Bibliographical references: First: don’t forget that the research of good sources is a long work. Plan the research in your time table! Look for many references, read the abstracts, pick up many references (don’t immediately read the first ones you find, in a general way, wait to have tens of references to choose which ones you’ll read –choice to make from the abstracts). Also, don’t forget to use the bibliographical databases you can have access to on University of Lille1 website –using keywords for the research. Of course you can use book(s), but more important, articles from academics or experts from Academic Journal (or Business journals if with heavy Economics content). Books are often of less scientific value than articles in academic journals. The journals have to be English written (possible exceptions for French ones, if justified by the subject). Be aware not to use too many Websites, if they aren’t of Academics or international organizations like IMF or World Bank (or websites of Academic Journal, of course). On the web, you can find the best... And the worst! Be prudent. Anyway, always check the origin of the website, look if the source is serious, and always indicate the name of the author, at least of the origin, of the website. The Harvard referencing system indicates how to quote the references, including the sometimes difficult case of the websites: follow it scrupulously. As an indication, websites (apart from Journals and “serious” sites like from international organizations) should not represent more than 50 % of your bibliographical list. It’s difficult to indicate a minimal number of references, as it depends of the subject, and of the quality and the difficulty of them. As an indication, a good essay should present at least 5 to 10 articles (depending of their difficulty and interest) and one or two (scientific or written by expert) books, or 10 to 15 articles without books.

In the text, any use of a source must be indicated, by writing at the end of the sentence or the paragraph, the reference to the source in the format “(Author, Year of the publication of the reference)”, the reference being in the bibliographical list at the end of the essay (sorted out by authors name). Note that if you don’t indicate a reference at the end of the sentence or paragraph that means that the idea is of your own. To quote is a way to “protect” yourself, indicating that the idea in the sentence or paragraph comes from a serious source. Note that we are very sensitive to copy-paste excerpts. First, any excerpt of any source must be carefully indicated by quotation brackets (and in this case, you must indicate not only the name of the author and the date of the reference, but also the page of the quotation).Second, a work should not content more than 10 % of quotations. Above this level, it has to be justified, or it will be negatively considered. The essays will have to be submitted to a special website which automatically detects the excerpts from internet. This process is a requisition for the essay to be taken in consideration by the teacher (myself in the case of Economics essay). I’ll explain later in a message the way to process. Formal requisitions: The essay must be written in Times New Roman characters, size 12, double interlined paragraphs. Between two paragraphs, you must let a 6 point space. You essay must present: An introduction, a conclusion, a Table of content (just after the title page), and the bibliographical list at the end. Note that the introduction must indicate the interest of the subject, present the set of questions you’ll address in your essay, and then how you will organize your global reasoning (then, justify the plan). A good introduction is no less than 5 to 10 % of the global work. The conclusion must summarize all your work, clearly show the reasoning you did follow, and answer to your set of questions. The limits of your work are to be indicated. Then, this leads to an “opening” in terms of possible next work must conclude your work. A good conclusion is often 10 to 15 %of the length of the global work. (don’t forget that most readers read first the conclusion). The titles must be clearly indicated: larger characters, bold or italic depending of the level of the title. A space of 12 points must be inserted before and after each title. Pay attention not to let isolated titles at the end of pages). You may use tables, charts, graphs, and so on in the text itself (if not too big; if large figures or documents, place them in annex, and don’t forget to make a reference to the pertinent annex when you use this document in the text of the essay). For each of this figures, always write a title, and the indication of the source of the figure. Indicate numbers for them (Table 1: “title”; “table 2: title», and so on). Last: don’t forget the pagination of the pages –in the bottom line of each page. Of course, the table of content links any title with the pertinent page number. Evaluation: Richness of ideas Interest of the ideas, their “quality” and their pertinence to the subject. Quality of the references, pertinent use of them. Strength and clarity of the global reasoning, and of the reasoning in each part. Formal qualities, including quality of introduction and conclusion. A work without introduction, or conclusion, cannot be graded more than half the global maximum grade. The absence of the bibliographical list is also much penalized.